Lost fishing gear is a problem with great financial and environment consequences. Lobster and crab traps, for example, are frequently lost due to separation of the trap line from the associated surface buoy. This problem is largely a financial problem, and the damages are easily calculated.
With respect to other types of fishing gear, such as gillnets, there is a significant environmental consequence in addition to the financial losses associated with lost gear. Gillnets can be lost, for example, due to storms, boat strikes or parted buoy lines. Gillnets lost in this manner “continue to fish” once lost. That is, fish trapped within the net die within the net. These dead and decaying fish serve to attract more fish to the site to face the same consequences. This phenomenon has been referred to as “ghost fishing.”
It has been observed that the quantity of gear lost at sea world-wide, and continuing to fish, exceeds the gear currently in use by many-fold. A device that would assist in the recovery of such lost gear would be a great benefit to the industry, as well as to the populations of the sea.